Featured
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The Smooth-Billed Ani: One Nest Shared by the Whole Flock
The smooth-billed ani (Crotophaga ani) breaks the rule of the pair-owned nest: several females lay in the same nest, and every adult…
Latest Stories
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Mantis Shrimp: The Fastest Punch in the Sea, Measured by Science
The mantis shrimp strikes at over 50 mph underwater and creates bubbles that also damage its prey. Here is what scientists measured…
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Amazon Architect Cicadas: Their Clay Towers Were Tested With Condoms
The nymph of the cicada Guyalna chlorogena builds clay chimneys up to 47 cm tall. A Brazilian study showed they help it…
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Lyrebird: The Australian Mimic That Copies Chainsaws, Cameras and Car Alarms
The superb lyrebird of Australia copies the songs of other birds and even mechanical sounds. Here is how its voice and lyre-shaped…
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The Walking Palm of the Amazon: Does Socratea exorrhiza Really Move?
The Amazonian palm Socratea exorrhiza has a reputation for walking through the forest. Here is what science says about its stilt roots…
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Smalltooth Sawfish Returns After Decades to a Florida Mangrove Nursery, Tracking Shows
Juvenile smalltooth sawfish were tracked in shallow areas of Florida’s Indian River Lagoon after decades of decline of the endangered species.
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Dogtooth Characin: Lower Fangs Lock Into the Upper Jaw and Power a Fish Diet in the Amazon
The lower-jaw fangs of the dogtooth characin slot into openings in the upper jaw, and its diet is fish, according to studies…
Wildlife
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The Smooth-Billed Ani: One Nest Shared by the Whole Flock
The smooth-billed ani (Crotophaga ani) breaks the rule of the pair-owned nest: several females lay in the same nest, and every adult…
-
Mantis Shrimp: The Fastest Punch in the Sea, Measured by Science
The mantis shrimp strikes at over 50 mph underwater and creates bubbles that also damage its prey. Here is what scientists measured…
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Amazon Architect Cicadas: Their Clay Towers Were Tested With Condoms
The nymph of the cicada Guyalna chlorogena builds clay chimneys up to 47 cm tall. A Brazilian study showed they help it…
Environment
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Rhodoliths: Two Beds of Living Stones in Brazil Hold More Than 450 Species and Possible New Algae
A study of samples from Abrolhos and Queimada Grande Island found more than 450 species in beds of calcareous algae and estimated…
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Lichens Pair Two Organisms, Grow About 0.04 Inches a Year and Record Air Quality on Bare Rock
A lichen is a lasting partnership between a fungus and an alga or cyanobacterium. It grows slowly on bare rock, starts the…
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Pará’s mangroves are nurseries for wildlife and shields against storms
Mangroves along Pará’s coast shelter young fish and crustaceans, support thousands of families, store vast amounts of carbon and reduce the force…
Flora
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The Walking Palm of the Amazon: Does Socratea exorrhiza Really Move?
The Amazonian palm Socratea exorrhiza has a reputation for walking through the forest. Here is what science says about its stilt roots…
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Titica Vine, the Amazon Fiber for Baskets and Furniture, Is Safe to Harvest Only If Roots Stay
Titica vine (Heteropsis flexuosa) yields a pale, flexible fiber for baskets and furniture, but the plant dies if all its mature roots…
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Satellite Imagery Spotted a 290-Foot Red Angelim in the Amazon; Scientists Arrived Three Years Later
A red angelim (Dinizia excelsa) of 88.5 meters (290 feet), the tallest known tree in the Amazon, was detected in 2019 by…
Science
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Leech cuts skin with three jaws, releases hirudin and an anesthetic, and keeps blood flowing
The leech’s saliva combines the anticoagulant hirudin with anesthetic substances, a mechanism used historically and studied in microsurgery.
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The Smell of Rain Comes From Soil Bacteria, and Noses Detect It at 5 Nanograms per Liter
The earthy smell after rain comes in large part from geosmin, a compound made by soil actinobacteria. The human nose is so…
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Zombie-Ant Fungus Found Hiding Inside Amazon Mosses, Brazilian Study Suggests
Researchers at Brazil’s INPA detected DNA of the fungus behind zombie ants in mosses of a forest reserve near Manaus. It points…